Is the coaching industry full of BS?
Pitfalls, traps, and red flags… there are some weird things happening these days in the online space and in the coaching industry.
I’m gonna be that person that’s a little bit of a whistle-blower. I’m okay with that.
Hopefully, I can frame this in a way that empowers you to be someone full of integrity; who owns what they do with a lot of confidence.
The coaching industry has developed very quickly over the past few years. Tony Robbins was the father of the coaching industry. He started in NLP, he started with a bunch of therapists and didn’t really pursue a degree or certification. But here’s the deal: he had tangible, real results, and he had taken the time to master his craft.
Now, rather often within the coaching industry, I see that there are a lot of people owning someone else’s message instead of owning their own.
People come forward in the coaching industry with their own point of view, expertise, and experience. And then there’s some people that say, “I don’t have experience… what am I supposed to do?”
I am 110% about you starting out as a research expert; taking the time to read dozens of books, do some training courses, and then start getting into some pro-bono coaching. This will help you really develop and master your craft and your abilities as a coach.
Coaching is not something you do overnight.
It’s not like you get a certification and suddenly you’re a top earner. You take time to develop.
But, one thing that I see is that people are taking someone else’s message instead of owning their own. In these Facebook coaching groups, you’ll see a LOT of copy-and-pasting. There are a lot of people taking someone else’s ideas, changing a few words, and then putting their own name on it. It’s very frustrating! To see someone who steps forward, read one personal development book, and then say, “Oh, I’m a life coach.” ?
I’m not saying this to put anyone down. I started myself with reading one personal development book! But I think it’s important to recognize within yourself: whether or not you’re leading in your business with full integrity.
Are you fully able to help people?
If you’re not in a place where you’re figured out with your baggage, or you’ve developed a system that you know works… you should not be charging a premium.
I’m sorry. I love you, I want you to make money, I know you are deserving of that money. But I truly believe that you shouldn’t be charging a premium before you’re ready.
Maybe you’re an aspiring sales expert. You can own the title after: you’ve read dozens of sales books, you’ve taken courses, you’ve learned techniques from top people in the industry, those tips are now in your DNA, you’ve used those tips on sales calls and you’ve seen tangible results with them.
Now, if you want to step forward and take techniques that you have not originated, you can certainly do that. But you’ve got to give credit where credit is due.
If you’re taking someone’s full program and duplicating it, that doesn’t count.
Take what you’re learning. Change it. Find your own results and own techniques. Make it yours. And THEN you can create your own products, programs, and services.
I really want to encourage you guys to make sure whatever you offer is yours.
I know a lot of people get into the online space, see people doing similar things as they are, and they get comparisonitis. They start freaking out because they don’t know how to create their own voice; they’re just constantly listening to other people.
But, I’m telling you: you have a message, and you need to own yours. Not someone else’s.
People want to claim an expertise that they’re not fully ready to step into, and they’re wondering why people are not banging down their door for products and programs. It’s partly because you haven’t established an audience yet, but a lot of times it’s because you’re not ready to claim that expertise. Maybe there’s a network marketer who maybe has a thyroid condition. Are you qualified, knowledgeable enough, and READY to walk someone through that process? If you haven’t healed your own thyroid yet, are you qualified to help someone else do this? Kind of yes, but no.
You can certainly give someone the fundamental steps you’ve figured out; there’s things that you’ve already figured out on how to heal your thyroid. You can certainly direct them to basic articles, books, doctors. You do have some expertise, not necessarily in the healing of your thyroid, but you have expertise in your learning experience. That’s something you can package and sell for sure! But, if you’re not sure if your stuff works, remember…
You are your first client.
You are a walking billboard for your business.
Your income, your body, your emotional stability.
You should be able to say that you’ve been successful within your niche before you start teaching to other people.
If you’re brand new to coaching and would like some experience, probono coaching is a great way to get the hands on experience without the pressure of someone paying you.
If you want to coach around something like thyroid and you haven’t successfully healed it yet, you don’t have to claim the title of Thyroid Expert. You can call yourself, like, the Thyroid Warrior. You can lead with that in your branding, but don’t fully coach around it until you have the experience.
Point being: you have to have a system.
You need to have a step-by-step toolkit; that’s what being a helpful teacher is all about! What’s your system? What problem are you solving? How are you getting clients from Point A to Point B?
Don’t get in over your head.
Teach things you’ve already mastered and you know how to do.
And I KNOW that you have so much expertise under your belt already, that it won’t be an issue for you at all!
The other piece of Coaching BS that gets me REALLY fired up?
The Exaggerated, False, or Misleading Claims.
Some people might get mad that I’m saying this, but here’s the real deal.
I have a lot of integrity in my business, and I think there’s enough of the “highlight reel” on social media.
So, I get viscerally angry when I see it in marketing. It feels so gross and icky.
An example:
A Facebook ad that claims,
“I had a six figure launch! Who wants to make six figures?!?!”
There are certainly people who have made a six figure launch, and I’m not saying that person is being false about what they made… in SALES.
But, six figures in SALES is different than six figures in PROFIT.
Six figures in sales means, opening the cart, X amount of people bought, closing the cart, and bottom line: we made six figures’ worth.
Some people who run their business have email marketing, a team, Facebook ads, landing page, website, designer… so they’ve got all of these expenses. And I’m just breaking it down like this so my newbies understand that a six figure launch is usually talking about the sales that person made, but it’s not necessarily their take-home or what ends up in their bank account. It’s not necessarily their profit from that launch.
Realize though, that those people who ARE making six figures in sales, are most definitely investing in their business. So if you’re somebody who’s been waiting to invest in your business until “you make money,” that’s backwards.
Just the other day, I saw a network marketing company’s post (no shame on Network Marketing, this was just one particular person!!!) that said “CAR BONUS!” “Woohoo, Congrats “name”, you got a Car Bonus!” It was a picture of the woman and a picture of a car. And I thought, “OhmyGod, did this person earn a car?” Because some network marketing companies ARE cool and they DO give out people cars. So I thought, “Wow, that’s amazing!” All of these people are commenting, and then the person is responding with, “Oh no, I made a quarterly bonus of $500 and it’s gonna go toward my car payment.”
WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE.
That is SUPER different.
The picture, the text…. Very, very misleading. Not cool to do that. That’s super out of integrity. And guess what – you may trick somebody into thinking they’ll earn a car, and that’s why they’re signing up for your team. But eventually, they’re going to realize that wasn’t the case. And then they’re going to realize that you’re not operating out of integrity or truth.
There are so many people starting podcasts, and I think it’s a beautiful way to grow your brand and connect with your audience by giving free value. If someone has a podcast and they have 100K downloads on a podcast, people may think, “Oh my gosh, they have 100K listeners?!?! I’ll never get to that level!” 100K downloads are NOT the same thing as 100K listeners! It’s not 100K people. Let’s say you have 50 episodes, that’s on average 2K downloads per episodes…. That means you have maybe 2K – 5K individual listeners. It’s not quite the same as claiming 100K listeners.
I’m not trying to diminish anyone’s hard work – ALL of those numbers are incredible. I just want the new people, just trying to get their feet wet and are excited about uploading… you’re not far away from achieving what those who are more established done. It’s just that they way they are framing it may seem more grandiose than they’ve actually done.
One last thing…
In the online business or business space, there are a lot of people who claim they have THE thing.
I have THE strategy.
I have THE plan.
I have THE answer to success.
… Nope!
There is no one strategy to achieve success.
That’s ridiculous!
Sure, there are best practices, tons of amazing proven strategies you can plug into… but, there’s no one, be all-end all. If you’re working with someone who thinks that THEIR strategy is THE ONLY WAY, then you might want to step away from that person or company. Start to gather some information from other people or “experts” in the space.
You don’t build a business overnight!
I did a discovery call with a client who had done a branding program. The girl who was coaching her said, “You don’t need to join another program because I’ve taught you everything you need to know.”
“…huh.”
I said, “I’m going to be honest with you: if any coach tells you they’re going to give you everything you need to know in a matter of 4 weeks… you probably shouldn’t listen to them. There are SO many things that go into a successful business. Nobody is going to be able to teach everything in a matter of 4 weeks.”
Anyone that’s up on that kind of pedestal needs to check themselves.
All in all, these are the things people are hearing. If you’re a newbie health coach, you just don’t know… and there are people selling information products, knowledge, and coaching, who are not super qualified to do so.
You don’t have to step into anything before you’re ready.
Get the schooling, work your pre-existing strengths while you build up your expertise.
Own the shit out of what you’re doing… but do it from a place of integrity.
If you are not already inside of the Facebook group, Online Coaches Manifest and Monetize, come on over and get some free content and hang out!
